Juicy details about the Canada-US meltdown and tariffs less popular stateside...

Plus an anthem debacle and returning to our roots.

I keep writing about how we get in our own way in the trade talks with the United States because we do keep getting in our own way. This isn’t some kind of anti-Canadian position that I have or even cheering against the Carney government in Ottawa.

In fact, I want the Carney government to succeed, because even though I didn’t vote for them, they are in power and if they don’t succeed then we are all hurt and normal people across the country lose their jobs while the folks in Ottawa carry on.

If you want to read about all the awful things Donald Trump is doing, or how awful his tariffs are, you can read that anywhere. As Mark Carney likes to say though, we can’t control Trump but we can control our own actions.

So why then are our actions so stupid.

A new piece in the Toronto Sun tonight goes into detail about the trade talks breaking down along with civility in the relationship. I’ll expand on it more in tomorrow’s newsletter, but go and give the piece a read, you will not be disappointed as I go into details you won’t hear elsewhere.

Polling shows Trump’s tariffs losing popularity with American voters…

I know there is a huge debate about the ad, that’s a different discussion, but was it hitting a note with the American public?

I don’t enjoy much of what CNN puts forward, but Harry Enten, their chief data analyst is entertaining and engaging when he breaks down polling data. Unlike most on CNN, if Trump is doing well on an issue, he’s not afraid to say so and do it with style and panache.

On the issue of tariffs, here he is showing that tariffs are becoming less popular with American voters and if you look closely at the screen, you will see that it says just 36% support new tariffs on Canada.

A quick word about baseball, then the anthem…

Yes, I’ve been obsessed with baseball for a bit, this might surprise some people who knew me growing up. My parents wanted me to play baseball and hockey so I could be a Canadian - not an immigrant kid - but I found t-ball, which is all little kids like me could play, boring so I switched to what was then still the immigrant kid game, soccer.

Truth be told I’ve been a Jays fan for years and really took the team back up after moving back to Toronto from Ottawa in 2019.

Last night, I was complaining about the umpires before the most horrendous call of them all that saw Bo Bichette tagged out. It’s hard enough playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the greatest teams, but playing against the Dodgers and the Umps is too much.

I didn’t make it to the end, the game finished up at 2:51 ET, and I fell asleep sometime between 1 and 2, waking up just after 3 to see the game had ended in a loss but thinking it must have been long ago, not 15 minutes earlier.

What the hell was that with the anthem…

Stop changing the words to O Canada, just stop.

On Monday, MLB had Brad Paisley perform the Star Spangled Banner and he did it with style. It might not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but it was done with style and respect.

Before that though, we had a singer from Toronto that I’ve never heard of, JP Saxe, sing the anthem and change the words.

Saxe is apparently a Grammy nominated artist, but he not only changed the words, he sang the anthem badly. Could he warble any more than he did?

This is a guy who just two months ago had to cancel his North American tour due to poor ticket sales and this is the best Canadian singer that MLB could find in LA. Just try standing on a street corner and yelling out, “Are you a Canadian who can sing” and you will find a better option.

Read Mark Daniell’s piece on what went down.

Fixed election dates don’t belong in our system…

Doug Ford is creating more controversy because he’s standing up for our political traditions and scrapping Ontario’s fixed election date law. This was never part of our system, it doesn’t belong in our system, it’s an American import that doesn’t actually work with our system and Ford is right to scrap it.

I explain more of the reasons why, including that this is what the Constitution and Charter call for in my column for the Sun today, but really, this is the right move.

Now, I do take issue with some of his other changes to Ontario’s election laws, especially the extension of the per vote subsidy which benefits his party, but not due to the money they will get. There are political games at play here, so check out that column as well.